What a picture it presents of absolute devotion and of the highest Christian courage! The guns hardly cool from their deadly fire, soon to belch out death again, the men in the depth of winter caring naught for the cold or for the enemy's shot and shell, using their brief interval to lead their comrades to Christ. Pray on, Salvation Army lads! You will fight all the better for your country because of your fight for the King of Kings, and if death stares you in the face you will know that you have spent your last moments in pointing your comrades to the Lamb of God Who taketh away the sin of the world.
[Illustration: A NEW FORM OF RED-CROSS WORK. The Red-Cross Motor Field Kitchen, under the direction of Miss Jessica Borthwick, dispenses hot soup to the wounded on the battlefield. _Drawn by S. Begg._]
Regimental Aid Posts--What Night Fighting is Like--The Young Doctor--Making the Grave Bigger--Field Dressing Stations--Where Caution is Required--Where Pluck is Shown--When Does the Doctor Sleep?--Nothing but Tragedy--Those Grand Tommies--Winning a V.C. Clasp--A Dreadful Scene--A Kitchener's Train--Devoted Nurses--The Healthiest War--Preventive Measures--Hospital Ships.
So complete is the organisation of the Red Cross at the front that it is possible to indicate its work in four terms--Regimental Aid Posts, Field Dressing Stations, Clearing Hospitals, Base Hospitals. Add to these the Home Hospitals, to which the men are finally transferred, and you have the work of the Army Medical Organisation at a glance.
During this war the cryptic letters R.A.M.C. and M.S.C. have interpreted themselves into actual glorious service which the British public will ever delight to honour, and it will be borne in mind that most of the Christian ministers who have enlisted during this war, have enlisted into this branch of the service. They bear no arms, but theirs is the highest of all service, that of ministering to the wounded and dying. Such work as this requires heroism of the highest order.
Let us glance at each branch of the work, that the service of the Red Cross may live before us.
1. _Regimental Aid Posts._--Just a little behind the firing line, as near to it as possible, often exposed to shell and rifle fire, is the Regimental Aid Post. It may be in a cottage, possibly in a cow-shed, perhaps only under the partial shelter of a hill, with a doctor and a few men of the R.A.M.C. in charge. To it are brought as quickly as possible the men wounded in the firing line. During recent months, however, it has been impossible to bring the wounded even this short distance during the day. It has only been at night that the men in the trenches could remove their wounded hither, or the stretcher-bearers could go out to seek for them. The fire has been so terrible that no one could venture into the open. The men have had to lie where they fell, often in agony, waiting until they could be carried to the aid post to receive first aid from the doctor waiting for them. But the doctor does not always wait; he goes where he is needed most, right into the trenches, risking his life at every step, and there ministers to those who cannot wait to be brought to him.